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From Linda Campbell Khimaira Farm Hey folks While I may not have gone through all the messages yet <G>, it looks like we are well on the way towards having a well-written and informative site for all to see! I thought I would share something that I'm working on for my website. As some of you know, I imported Golden Guernsey semen to the US a few years ago (and Diane has some lovely kids resulting from that semen!). I want to have more information and photos on my site, and following is a historical recording taken from some of the English materials. In particular, I thought you might be interested in the third paragraph about varieties showing some special features had been selected until a fixed type was established. Part of my interest in Sables is related to my interest in the Golden Guernsey's! A Sable History will help others to understand this evolving process! Just thought I would share for a change of pace! Keep up the good work! Glad to see "unique" being incorporated into the material. I think this will help folks focus on distinguishing factors to help mentally separate Sables from Saanens, which I think is vital if we want to see a separation in the herd books. Here ya go! Linda
It is not certain just how long goats have inhabited the Island of Guernsey but a fair assumption would be that they were around at the time of the first human inhabitants, perhaps confirmed by the report that fine-boned goat skeletons were discovered close to the dolmens (Megalithic burial mounds of some 2000 B.C.). Although fine-boned is a characteristic of the Golden Guernsey goat breed, the first mention of their existence as a particular type was in an old guide book of the Island in 1826. They were apparently well-known then but had also occasionally disappeared over the years, probably as a result of cross breeding. However, today the future of the Golden Guernsey is much more secure, due mainly to the efforts of the late Miss Miriam Milbourne in rescuing it from near extinction in the Island. The Golden Guernsey goat is now firmly established and recognized as a separate and distinct breed, although a great deal of speculation as to its exact origin still remains. According to older in habitants of the Island, the ancestors of the Golden Guernsey are generally supposed to have been brought to the Island by returning local mariners, who were known to have kept goats aboard their ships to ensure fresh milk supplies. When ashore, they were bred to any local goat and, due to a prevailing general lack of interest, all that resulted were mixed breeds of very ordinary scrub animals. However, often owners were surprised when these nondescript goats produced offspring of beautiful golden colour, horn less and later found to be good milkers. This was virtually the situation when Miss Milbourne's attention was drawn to reviving these beautiful specimens of an almost extinct breed. With painstaking effort over many years she gained some measure of success in stabilizing the breed, in that kids of true colour were emerging. But, although the true colour was being reproduced, other characteristics were also emerging with regularity which, when compared with similar features found in European and Mediterranean breeds, leads us to another theory on the Golden Guernsey's ancestors. It is generally accepted that towards the end of the nineteenth century most European goat breeds had become so mixed up that it would have taken years to reestablish the types proper to each country. What does appear to have happened was that, from the basic type of goat which was peculiar to Europe, varieties showing some special features had been selected (though not necessarily intentionally) and bred for a certain period until a fixed type had been established. These fixed types, or by then, accepted breeds, derived their names from the inhabitants of districts involved, hence the "Toggenburg" and "Saanen" from respectively Canton St. Gallen and the Saanen Valley in Switzerland. From the accounts of Guernsey's "old folks", there existed locally goats of much larger size than the indigenous scrub goat and, from their description, the former appear to have possessed many characteristics found in the Golden Saanen or Golden Gessaney, as it was apparently known all over Europe prior to 1893. These common features could perhaps infer that the Golden Guernsey was simply a mutation of this European breed, trapped in this tiny island and evolving on its own, but for some uncharacteristic features which began to appear. By 1962, when kids of the right colour were being successfully bred, some disturbing faults also appeared. The ears were set in a more "wide-apart" position with a definite upturn or curl at the ends and the conformation of the back, instead of being straight, had a pronounced dip which suggested an eastern ancestor. Could the answer be in the description of Herodotus of his travels through Syria? He remarked on a goat of Syrian goats whose "wondrous ears turn upwards and outwards at the tips in tribute to Apollo who gave them their golden goats". The Syrian goat is generally supposed to be one of the ancestors of the Maltese goat (another being the Alpine) and the breed points as described in Holmes Pegler's "The Book of the Goat" would seem to indicate that a definite Maltese strain had appeared in the Golden Guernsey. Although it could perhaps be true to say that present Golden Guernsey is carrying Swiss and Maltese genes, local experts emphasize that this is not a golden Swiss goat, nor is it a mini goat. Admittedly it is a small animal, comparable with the Saanen and Toggenburg, but it is capable of good milk and butterfat yields in proportion to its size. Another theory on the evolution of our goat introduces a further breed to its ancestry. Today it is accepted that there are two types of Golden Guernsey - the short-haired dark golden brown and the long-haired pale golden. When we consider the latter, neither the Saanen nor the Maltese breeds would seem to account for this long hair but, rather, a more likely source of this feature would be the French Poitevine goat. Because of the close historical association between the Island and France since about the tenth century, many island settlers came from Normandy and Brittany, and from even further afield if we regard the present-day LaPoindevein family as descendants of natives of Poitou. Since Poitevine is a derivative of Poitou, there seems every possibility that the breed of this name was introduced by theses settlers although it is likely that strains of it were already present in the Normandy and Brittany livestock. What is certain about the Golden Guernsey goat today is that, due to the untiring efforts and dogged determination of one lady, we can all admire and own these engaging animals. Unfortunately, ill health prevented Miss Milbourne from continuing her efforts to stabilize this rare breed and a Trust was formed in 1970 to preserve her fine herd. The Trust, operating along with the Guernsey Goat Society, which had existed since 1922 to provide protection and the strict keeping of an Island Herd Book for purebreds, continued to improve the strain by supervising selective breeding until, in 1972, the Golden Guernsey Goat Association was formed to take over these responsibilities. The States of Guernsey Committee for Agriculture. Having found the breed worthy of preservation, gave its full support and even undertook official milk-recording. The Golden Guernsey Goat enjoys much success today under the watchful eye of the local Association which has organized many shows since its formation. With many of the faults of earlier years having now been eradicated, perhaps the breed may soon become truly indigenous to the island of Guernsey - although, as it is a popular belief, it may always have been a Guernsey, native breed which form time to time had almost disappeared. Speculation about their origin notwithstanding, it is encouraging to see so many of these colorful and attractive animals grazing in the green island fields in ever-increasing numbers. Equally gratifying is the fact that they are much sought after, especially by English rare-breed enthusiasts.
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